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"We've got our racecar back, but I guess
the driver still needs a little work.”—Medlen
on losing to a holeshot by Worsham in the semis
“John’s car has been on a different
planet this weekend, but I felt if we had run
any of the other teams, we would have had a
shot at another final. It didn’t work
out that way. There were 25 tough Funny Cars
out here this weekend and to be in the final
four is great.”—C.
Pedregon on going out in the semis against
Force
"We made a statement, but we didn't finish
the job. We could have closed everybody out.
I just want to get it done.”—Force
on the points race after going up in smoke
in the final against Worsham
"I thought we were pretty good, but Force
is unbelievable. What he did here was off the
charts. We were stunned. What he did here this
weekend was crazy, so all we wanted to do was
give him a good race and make him beat us." --
Worsham after beating an up-in-smoke Force
in the final, and referring to Force’s
new official national E.T. record of 4.665
seconds, set in a first-round win over Tony
Bartone
PRO STOCK
“You have to keep in mind that, prior
to this complete redesign, we had been using
the same basic engine configuration for 22
years, and that the DRCE 3 shares nothing with
its predecessor. Therefore, it has taken a
little time to bring it around to where it
is somewhat competitive. Having reached this
level, we can now begin the second stage of
development, which should give us an idea of
what direction we need to head in during the
off-season.”—Warren
Johnson on finally getting a handle on the
third-generation GM Pro Stock powerplant known
as the DRCE 3
"We got our chassis running good during
testing. If we can pick up a couple more horsepower
we should be ready to go out and rock and roll
with the best of them.” —Jim
Yates on his efforts to turn around a so far
disappointing season
"As close as the competition has become
in Pro Stock, you can't afford to give your
competitors any sort of an opening. For example,
one mile per hour in top speed can make a difference
of 15 spots. The bottom line is that every
time you let the clutch out, you have to come
as close as you can to having a perfect run.” —Kurt
Johnson on what it takes to succeed in the
hyper-competitive Pro Stock arena
"New motors are only good for six or
seven runs before they need to go back to the
shop to be freshened up because the new metal
(in the parts) moves around. It was time for
this one to get that work done.” --
Eddie Guarnaccia, crew chief for Kenny Koretsky,
on why he decided to change engines between
rounds in qualifying
"We never had time to tune-up the engine.
We wound up testing at a national event trying
to find a tune-up and we just ran out of runs." --
Yates after missing out on the quickest NHRA
Pro Stock field in history by just three-thousandths
"We used our own powerplant this weekend,
but we're continuing to search for more horsepower.
There've been occasions when we've used rental
engines, and that's meant a considerable extra
expense in staying out here, but it's our responsibility
to do the best we possibly can for our sponsors,
and you can't do that while you're sitting
at home. We'll continue to do whatever we can
to be competitive, and we're certainly not
losing any of our resolve. At the same time
it's increasingly obvious to us that without
having some of the tools we need at our disposal
to become competitive it'll continue to be
increasingly difficult for us to get over the
hump and be a factor in these remaining few
races.” —Mark
Pawuk facing harsh reality after failing to
make the cut in Chicago despite running a career-best
e.t.
"We had a mean hot rod today. We just
didn't have the pieces lined up to advance
past Greg and that group.” —Jeg
Coughlin after losing in the second round to
Greg Anderson, who led qualifying with a national
record-setting 6.661-second pass at 207.21
mph, also a new national speed record
“Somehow I went over the edge there.
I didn't think I had, but obviously I pressed
just a little too hard and threw it away. If
I could just have it back and rerun it, but
unfortunately we can't.” --
Anderson on red-lighting against Dave Connolly
in the final round
“We might never be that lucky again.” —Connolly
on winning despite his engine letting go
at the start
“Nobody at the beginning of the year
even pushed him to have to cut lights, he had
the whole field covered so bad. For us to be
running that close to him and have those guys
pushing as hard as they are, it's a great feeling.” —Connolly
again, on the gains his team has made on Anderson
since the season began
“I knew the engine was hurt and there was
water coming out of the headers while I was staging.
There was no way the car would have made it to
the finish line. When that happens, you just
stage and hope for some luck, which is what happened.” —Connoly
once more, on how it really is sometimes better
to be lucky than good 
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